equipment for beats

Trakmoney7

New member
I have a Triton extreme and a motif es rack, i was wondering what i should get next. i know that some people i have asked have told me to get an mpc, but others have told me to get protools and start making my beats on there. Right now i just export my beats from my keyboard on to my computer and mix them down in fruity loops. i know there is a better way to do this, so my projects come out cleaner i just dont know exactly what to do. Any input for me would on any of what i just mentioned would be great, thanks guyz.
 
It depends on what you really want to make. If you're based on hardware right now, I'd keep with it and get the MPC but I'm a hardware guy myself.

The MPCs are classics for hip hop beats; I've read a lot of interviews with hip hop producers that are mixing down in Pro Tools that still use an MPC as the hub of their process. A lot of the guys that say you should just make your beats in Pro Tools are the same guys that come on the following week and say "How can I get my beats to have that MPC sound?"

You will need to record it all into somewhere, though, and I don't know whether FL has all the facilities you need to take a track to a finished record with vocals (it may, I just don't know) .

EDIT: "so my projects come out cleaner" - I also don't know exactly what problem you're trying to address with the drum sampler. What is it that's causing you to go looking?
 
Another nice machine to consider as an alternative to an MPC would be a Roland R8 drum machine. You can get them for next to nothing these days on the used market. Of course the sounds are pretty dated sounding now but you don't have to use the internal samples. Trigger your own sounds through Midi.
I just always found making beats to be enjoyable and FAST on the R8.

For making beats on the computer I use Sound Forge 6. I'll open all the separate samples of drum sounds I want and then cut/copy/paste them together in a new file. This may not be the easiest way for most folks but it works for me.
 
If you decided to go with Pro-Tools, you have to get a Pro-Tools compatible interface (if you don't already have one), which can be an expensive investment depending. 1 question I would ask myself is "what do I need?".
As good as new equipment looks, if you don't need it, you don't need it.

You should be able to get clean results using the Triton and Motif, what's not clean about your projects? Can you elaborate a little more on that?
 
fl is a great program to work with in almost every situation except when it comes down to mixing and mastering and dealing with vocals...with every new version release they fail to bring you the quality tools needed for vocal placement and the mixer is really plain and poorly built.........mental where the hell u been son??????????????????
 
It depends on what you really want to make. If you're based on hardware right now, I'd keep with it and get the MPC but I'm a hardware guy myself.

The MPCs are classics for hip hop beats; I've read a lot of interviews with hip hop producers that are mixing down in Pro Tools that still use an MPC as the hub of their process. A lot of the guys that say you should just make your beats in Pro Tools are the same guys that come on the following week and say "How can I get my beats to have that MPC sound?"

You will need to record it all into somewhere, though, and I don't know whether FL has all the facilities you need to take a track to a finished record with vocals (it may, I just don't know) .

EDIT: "so my projects come out cleaner" - I also don't know exactly what problem you're trying to address with the drum sampler. What is it that's causing you to go looking?

Whats causing me to go looking, is that, i do all the kicks and claps for my beats on fruity loops then export them as wav files onto my triton and loop them. I then add in all the instruments and other things on my triton and with my rack. Ive been doing this for a while, and it seems as if there should be a way i could just do the kciks on the comp and the music on the keyboard with out having to export it to the keyboard, when i do that it causes mixing problems. my kick end up being a lil louder, and i cant tell as well wat the final project will sound like because it sound different coming out of the computer
 
If you decided to go with Pro-Tools, you have to get a Pro-Tools compatible interface (if you don't already have one), which can be an expensive investment depending. 1 question I would ask myself is "what do I need?".
As good as new equipment looks, if you don't need it, you don't need it.

You should be able to get clean results using the Triton and Motif, what's not clean about your projects? Can you elaborate a little more on that?

they come out some what clean, but it is hard to gauge how to mix them because im switching from one set of speakers to another, also it is hard to do my drops on when im going over it. I usually am trying to conserve tracks on the triton, being as the triton has a maximum of 16 tracks you can use, i send the kick and clap to the triton all as one sample, so if the clap is to loud, or the kick, or i want to change something in the loop for a spot, it presents a problem.
 
Sorry to be off topic but what ever happened to snares in rap music?:confused:?[/QUOTE
haha snares are good to, but claps in my opinion bring more of a dance feel to the track, makes people move more u know?, not to say that snares cannot be used in a hot club track, it also depends on what kind of beat you are making, some beats need a heavy snare like a Dre beat, others need a high clap like a lil jon beat.
 
Sorry to be off topic but what ever happened to snares in rap music?:confused:?[/QUOTE
haha snares are good to, but claps in my opinion bring more of a dance feel to the track, makes people move more u know?, not to say that snares cannot be used in a hot club track, it also depends on what kind of beat you are making, some beats need a heavy snare like a Dre beat, others need a high clap like a lil jon beat.

haha, I'm not tryin to hate. I'm just from the Snare side of things.
 
I have a Triton extreme and a motif es rack, i was wondering what i should get next. i know that some people i have asked have told me to get an mpc, but others have told me to get protools and start making my beats on there. Right now i just export my beats from my keyboard on to my computer and mix them down in fruity loops. i know there is a better way to do this, so my projects come out cleaner i just dont know exactly what to do. Any input for me would on any of what i just mentioned would be great, thanks guyz.

You don't really need an MPC or Protools. I say just reverse your method. Instead of sending drums from FL to the Triton then back to FL for mixdown. Just do midi sequencing,editing and programing in FL as well as audio recording and arranging. The way I see it whether you get an MPC or Protools, it can slow you down cuz now you got something new to learn where as u prolly are already familiar and comfortable with FL.

Unless there is something about FL that just plain dosen't do it for you, I say just use FL to the max.

If you have money buring a hole in your pocket, be sure you have decent monitors, interfacing(audio and midi), high quality cables etc
 
You don't really need an MPC or Protools. I say just reverse your method. Instead of sending drums from FL to the Triton then back to FL for mixdown. Just do midi sequencing,editing and programing in FL as well as audio recording and arranging. The way I see it whether you get an MPC or Protools, it can slow you down cuz now you got something new to learn where as u prolly are already familiar and comfortable with FL.

Unless there is something about FL that just plain dosen't do it for you, I say just use FL to the max.

If you have money buring a hole in your pocket, be sure you have decent monitors, interfacing(audio and midi), high quality cables etc

I like what he said, you dont need nothing else. Use what ya got to its full potential, make your own sounds in the triton or whatever and then call it a day.
 
LOL what's up fam!
I been strugglin the past 6 months or so, trying to work off all this debt. So I haven't really been online much. I have been stopping through from time to time checking out everyone's new work. I almost gave up on music, I'm just sick of hip-hop these days :eek:...

I see Noddy and D-Ease both stepped up their games... yall starting to make me feel like a rookie!...lmao
 
You don't really need an MPC or Protools. I say just reverse your method. Instead of sending drums from FL to the Triton then back to FL for mixdown. Just do midi sequencing,editing and programing in FL as well as audio recording and arranging. The way I see it whether you get an MPC or Protools, it can slow you down cuz now you got something new to learn where as u prolly are already familiar and comfortable with FL.

Unless there is something about FL that just plain dosen't do it for you, I say just use FL to the max.

If you have money buring a hole in your pocket, be sure you have decent monitors, interfacing(audio and midi), high quality cables etc


a brilliant post.

why not save the hardware for the stage and just get you a midi controller and use soft synths. some of the ones like ultra-analog and tassman blow my mind.

fl studio can be used as a plug-in in sonar cubase etc so you might consider that.

software takes time and frustration to get the hang of but its worth it i think.
 
I would get a Neko and route those to Neko via Mimik & start adding more and more rack mount synths.
 
i wanna know what fruity inside sonar cant do

i love fruity loops and i love the parametric eq inside it

i use that fruity parametric eq to death

hardware is great no doubt but your mpc is a computer too. you can get the same touch pads run into your computer through a midi port

your synth likely has a software emulation that people who love hardware have worked on to get it close
 
I have a Triton extreme and a motif es rack, i was wondering what i should get next?

What?? Fam, u got all u need to make hot tracks man. Use your dough on room treatment,studio monitors,interfaces, mics, etc. Stuff like that. You got some good equipment yo! I wanna hear some heat! Good stuff.
 
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